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I just did my own electrical on a detached garage - the off-the-cuff estimate from the electrician that just did our house was $5K, no including the trenching for the service. My DIY costs were still around $1.5K for the materials, so the saving was something like $4K. Note that this is in a...

It looks to me that they are gaming their COP numbers by reporting numbers while running at minimum output (where the COP is 4-5). That said there are reports from the field that these units do throttle back to their minimum output once they have reached the setpoint and just run continuously...

I think the solar inverters are very sensitive to the incoming waveform (as a safety measure) and so I am not sure a generator will be good enough to fool them into turning on. I also wonder if bad things may happen with both a highly variable load and source with no battery in the system to...

In more civilized parts of the world heat is also measured in watts......

I can't tell if he has some sort of finish on his walls or not. He seems to know what he is on about, so I imagine he has thought of this. While I am not nearly the woodworker (or video producer) that he is, the architecture of his shop was a major inspiration for mine.

I am pretty sure W/W is watts of hear per watt of electricity, or COP. I have no idea if this particular unit, which is a relabeled Gree Saphire, actually meets the specs shown in their spread sheet, but if they do then they are doing as well as Mitsubishi or Fujitsu. For comparison, here...

I dunno, if you use a decent grade of plywood, the raw wood look is pretty nice. Here is Frank Howarth's awesome shop, which appears to use unfinshed plywood for walls: https://www.woodmagazine.com/workshop/inspiring-shops/architects-modern-shop

Here is another contender: https://www.alpinehomeair.com/product/air-conditioning-cooling/ductless-mini-splits/single-zone-mini-split-systems/blueridge/bmkh2422#documents It appears to be a Gree Saphire. If the specs are to be believed, it is pretty amazing...

I am also waffling on this same decision of plywood vs drywall for interior shop/garage walls. In my case it is driven more by aesthetics and convenience than cost. I would do plywood myself, whereas I would hire drywall out, so even with the fanciest ply it would be cheaper than drywall...

You are completely right. Unfortunately I am maxed out on my 'official' grid connected capacity and can't add more panels. I am thinking of configuring the garage as an 'off grid' system with grid backup - ie it would run on solar and battery whenever it could, then only if there were no solar...

We have a very similar situation - we just rebuilt a home and worked hard to make it energy efficient and net zero. It is well insulated, has good passive solar design, and with a 10kW solar array and a geothermal heat pump we are well below net zero, with about 6MWh of excess from the past...

I see pretty huge swings in solar when clouds come and go, like a 50- 80% drop in power. That would be a really hard situation to adapt to.

I can see that - they are quite trendy at the moment (as is evident by the NYT article). I guess my question was more hypothetical, what happens in 10 years when they aren't so trendy? You do seem to see this ebb and flow - for example the 'modern farmhouse' that was all the rage in the 10's...

What I mean is that if you are running it off solar and you have a day with scattered clouds with solar power coming and going every few minutes - does the unit switch on and off as the sun comes and goes? That seems like it would lead to a short life....

I am starting to plan for a DIY mini split install in a 1000 sq ft detached garage that is just being finished up now. The climate is Colorado at 5800', so mean Dec/Jan low around 23F, mean Dec/Jan daytime temps around 37F. It looks like I would need a 24kBTUh unit. We occasionally get cold...

Most minisplits are 'inverter' compressors, which are actually brushless DC motors (BLDC), with a variable frequency motor driver (the 'inverter'). When you run one on 120/240 AC, the first step is to rectify the incoming AC to DC to feed the BLDC compressor driver. I am assuming in these...

Agreed that these are the highest quality around. However, they may not make sense for a DIY install - my understanding is that there is no warranty unless installed by a certified installer. You pay a pretty significant premium for a Mitsu, and you would be SOL if there were to be a...

That is an interesting option. Have you been able to find any spec sheets for these that show the heat output as a function of temperature? I am also planning on installing a 24K minisplit in my detached garage, but would like to run it off solar. My plan was to use an inverter and small...

You did a nice job on yours! The most and really only important thing is that you like it and are happy with it. It really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, particularly some random dude on the internet ;) .

There absolutely are well designed barndomininiums out there, and if you do an image search of barndominiums, these examples are front and center. However, if you go drive around and see what is being built, they generally don't look like these examples. I am not really thinking about...